Miguel Higueras was walking a few days ago through the mountains of the Madrid municipality of Arroyomolinos when he ran into a cruel surprise.
The head of the forestry agent operation of the Community of Madrid was there investigating the causes of a fire, but he found a thistle that in the eyes of any hiker would have gone unnoticed, but not for him.
It was attached to a stick and on top were several twigs impregnated with glue.
"It is a massive capture method for finches, because it makes their wings stick and they cannot fly," explains the agent on the other end of the phone.
That thistle shows that there are still some who are reluctant to abandon the practice of hunting songbirds, prohibited since 2018.
In Spain there is a deep-rooted tradition of capturing, breeding and training birds such as goldfinches, finches, linnets or greenfinches to participate in singing competitions.
It is a form of hunting known as silvestrismo.
Since 2018, the capture of these birds has been prohibited in all the autonomous communities, at least on paper.
"In 2008 the European Commission declared it illegal, but Spain allowed a transition period of ten years with the aim of capturing a sufficient number of specimens so that there would be a sufficient
stock
for captive breeding", details David de la Bodega. , responsible for the SEO/Birdlife legal program.
The organization assures that in that time about two million finches were captured.
Some autonomous communities extended this period and in 2019 Europe asked Spain for formal explanations by letter about what measures it planned to take to ensure compliance with the European directive.
The letter made special mention of the Community of Madrid.
"Even today there are people who have not accepted it and persist in these illegal practices, we have even seen advertisements on web pages where these species were offered," says De La Bodega.
Higueras indicates that so far this year the body of forest agents of the Community of Madrid has initiated 20 criminal proceedings against different people for the use of massive capture arts such as "traps, poisonous ties and trap cages".
The findings of the foresters and the operations of Seprona make it clear that the black market, which existed even before this ban, continues to function.
"They are highly coveted to trade with them and there are also some areas where they are still eaten, they are fried birds," Higueras details.
The agent says that they have managed to find trapping points for more than a hundred specimens and that one of the most common places is near streams, to take advantage of the fact that the birds perch to rest and drink.
There is an official schedule of songbird contests, but various police investigations have uncovered the traffic that clandestine contests move.
Birds released in Girona this week. GUARDIA CIVIL (CIVIL GUARD)
There are dozens of operations in which poachers have fallen in recent years and animals have been rescued in appalling conditions.
The Civil Guard ensures that some specimens can reach up to 3,000 euros.
Being illegal, there are no specific figures on how much money this pirate market moves or how many participate in it, but the operations carried out over the years by Seprona and the forestry agents give an idea that it is a business that is still active.
Just a week ago, 35 birds were released in terrible conditions in Girona, but the list goes on: a van with more than 1,200 specimens intercepted in Martorell in 2020, 11 investigated and 68 birds released in an operation in Huelva in 2021, another 27 birds rescued in Córdoba this same year,
In addition, there have already been convictions for these illegal captures and trade.
Two residents of Teruel accepted a fine of 1,800 euros for trafficking 200 songbirds, another whom the Madrid Municipal Police intercepted in 2020 with three goldfinches was also sentenced to pay six euros a day for nine months, despite the fact that in both cases The Prosecutor's Office requested higher sentences.
Located an individual in the district of #Hortaleza when he illegally hunted birds with league, more specifically goldfinches.
The agents seized various material, as well as several birds of that species, some with traces of glue on their legs, enclosed in a cardboard box.
pic.twitter.com/HwlD9UqFMT
– Municipal Police of Madrid (@policiademadrid) October 28, 2021
The Community of Madrid did allow the Madrid Hunting Federation a scientific project called Monitoring of finch populations from 2018, as specified by the entity on its website, and awarded it a grant of more than 16,000 euros, according to the Official Gazette of the community.
The Madrid hunters announced the renewal of the project a year later.
The wildlife section of this entity completely separates this project from any kind of hunting.
“Nowhere in Spain are captures for the purpose of silvestrism allowed.
In Madrid they are not, nor have they been since 2017. Any other statement in another sense is strictly false”, points out the wildlife delegate, Pablo Luis López Espí, in a written response to this newspaper.
López Espí adds that they have not detected that these poaching practices are widespread and that they themselves are “the first interested parties” in making clear the difference between their “sports practice” and the illegal trafficking of birds.
"We ourselves denounced the discovery of two of these traps last year," says the silvestrist.
That thistle that did not go unnoticed by forest agents is the tip of the iceberg of an entire submerged market to cage the song and enrich itself with the trills.
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